Basta!

                                                        

Can you believe the rallying cry from supposed Habs fans and Bergevin loyalists is let’s be positive. As for whether the habs are transparent or not I have zero interest in this non-issue. I have even less interest in whether the players have a good or bad attitude. These are internal matters or media related matters that the casual fan doesn’t give a hoot about. If the team has a terrible season, it seems obvious to me that both media and fans will not be positive and want and expect improvements and change. Basta!  Seriously my beloved habs are in the dumpster and we should be positive? It’s like saying let’s be positive about a warm winter in Montreal, or coal making a comeback as a fossil fuel, or Trump negotiating free trade agreements.  No I am sad and really bloody enraged about the team I followed since I was a little kid. So please stop with this positive crap.  As other historic sports dynasties replenish like the Yankees who added Stanton, or Juventus spending money on Ronaldo, and the Lakers enticing Lebron, the habs are adding 4th liners. Basta! 

For the first time in a long time I am not looking forward to next season. Free agent centers like Tavares and Stastny have not only spurned the habs but made it clear they were not even willing to speak to Habs management. Basta! Even French Canadian free agents like Roussel and Perron seemed to have no interest in joining the habs or living in Quebec. Basta! Fruitlessly, the habs have re-signed an aging and anemic Plekanec. Basta! Weber, Shaw, and Byron are injured long term, heaven knows how Price will play next year. Basta!  Our number one defenceman to start the year will be Jeff Petry, who was -31 last year. Basta! Are habs management making the same mistake with Kotkaniemi they made with Galchenyuk by signing him to an entry level contract? Basta! Why are Benn, Schlemko, and Alzner still here? Nobody wants them no doubt. Basta!

I am a long-time habs fan and my intelligence will not be insulted by those that keep defending the indefensible. I grew up watching the habs. I have gotten old watching the habs. I have lived in Montreal most of my life and before the internet and social media being a habs fan meant cheering for them at the forum, in a bar, or in front of a tv set with friends and family. I like to think of myself lucky to have seen all those cup wins but then again I expected it to happen. 1993 was an eventful year for me after having returned from living in Toronto for 4 years and during that period having no option but to watch the moribund leafs.  I was happy just to be back in Montreal. Then it happened they won another Stanley cup and I was ecstatic. What timing!

I have contented myself the 25 years that have ensued in just watching the habs play good hockey and be competitive. There were some lean years especially after the Roy and Turgeon trades that left the habs less talented and less interesting to watch. Basta! There were the years where the habs seemed to be able to draft only vertically challenged players that were pushed around by rugged teams. Basta! It seemed every pugilist the habs got their hands on was summarily koed by the opposing team thug. Basta! The Saku Koivu years were ok except I never expected them to win a Cup, they were just not good enough. Koivu had immense popularity in spite of the fact he really was not a number one center and took a backseat to the likes of Mats Sundin, Steve Yzerman, or Joe Sakic. Basta!

After almost making it to the Stanley cup final in 2015, the habs seemed destined for bigger and grander things. The core of the team was young and they had a Norris winner, a Vezina  winner, and a perennial top 5 goal scorer. If we got a center if if if. Unfortunately now it’s too late, the present habs core is dissolving. Subban was made a scapegoat and got traded, Galchenyuk was finally traded when his value was in the crapper. Pacioretty appears to be on the trading block and his value in tatters after a poor year. Why the habs are unable to get what the Rangers got for Nash is beyond me. Price had an awful year after signing an incredulous deal for a goalie. We still have no number one center. Meanwhile the leafs, capitals, oilers, and penguins have two number one centers. What has happened to the legendary flying frenchmen, the franchise that was known far and wide? Basta! 

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